kas

This spot happened between Takumi and Mayu (of course it was Mayu) in a match against Hazuki and Momo https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/rr8en0/stardom_dream_queendom_mayu_iwatani_had_a_couple/ Love the reviews btw

Okada's been doing his best work since 2018. With how much I enjoyed the Kaito feud and the Shota mini-feud it would be a crying shame if he suddenly left right when the next generation is poised to break through when there's so much potential for him to lean further into the grumpy Jumbo-esque role.

Not seen enough of the others, but Utami deserves a shout cause she's been good right out of the gate (with one of the best debut matches ever) and has been consistently good to great since

That's the 2023 ballot all wrapped up! Here are the top 100 https://gweproject.freeforums.net/thread/2845/top-greatest-matches-2023-results and here are all the rest of the matches that received at least one vote https://gweproject.freeforums.net/thread/2834/receiving-votes-2023-results. If you're interested in this project come in and join the discussion.

Toyota is my #1, but the 4 pillars, Aja Kong, Chigusa Nagayo, and Dynamite Kansai all had fantastic years. I'd imagine Hashimoto would be in that tier but I just haven't seen enough.

Before 2020 I didn't pay much attention to him outside of the Hiromu matches, but since the pandemic, he's been one of New Japan's more consistent wrestlers and has me wanting to check out his older stuff.

I'm kinda surprised New Japan didn't pick Bailey up back in 2020 while Bailey was still banned from the US and his DDT run had ended.

2nd the Takumi vs Aoki recommendation, really great match. Aoki stepped up big time and Takumi sold and bumped big for her.

For a couple under-the-radar picks, 2008 feels like the first year where Shingo and Tanahashi are BITW contenders

His two matches with Tenryu on 09/30/2006 and 10/20/2006 Vs Mochizuki 05/11/2005 Vs Liger 03/25/2007 Do Fixer vs Blood Generation 07/03/2005 Crazy MAX vs M2K 03/17/2006

This was my top 5 Jon Moxley Kazusada Higuchi Kazuchika Okada Bryan Danielson Suzu Suzuki

His matches against Yuji Okabayashi (07/21/2019) and with Hideyoshi Kamitani against Katsuhiko Nakajima and Masa Kitamiya (07/10/2018) are terrific

I'd say that it's about on the same level as The Bucks match. Long in the tooth but still great. FTR were also by far the better of the two teams.

Did a write-up on Kana that go through some matches of hers that really showcase her diverse skillset https://kaswrestlingblog.substack.com/p/greatest-wrestler-ever-the-case-for-kana-asuka

Ospreay's 2016-2019 Jr. run was fantastic, and he was often unfairly maligned for just being a spot monkey when matches like the ones he had against KUSHIDA dispel that notion. Since turning HW, he may have become more well-rounded, but he's lost what drew me to him in the first place and he feels like some mix of Omega and Okada but without the strengths of either. I will say he has had a strong year this year, but not to the WOTY level like some people are saying.

In addition to the matches already pimped, here's some more stuff that really round out her case. The more I watch, the stronger my conviction of her being the best modern Joshi and a top 20 candidate. Kana vs Kyoko Kimura 08/16/08 - https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x60c9le AKINO & Chihiro Oikawa vs. Kana & Nanae Takahashi 12/28/2008 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4kKmFGE7NY&ab_channel=theresnoreasontolive Kana & Nanae Takahashi vs. Natsuki Taiyo & Passion Ray 11/22/2009 - https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4ha1qm Kana vs Meiko Satomura 04/29/2010 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hhv86X56XGM Kana vs. Sara Del Rey 10/01/2011 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHqWOt0K_wk&ab_channel=RateTheWrestling Kana vs Sara Del Rey 10/08/2011 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO_GeYiRjw4&ab_channel=CHIKARALive Kana vs Hanako Nakamori 10/14/2013 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dgcB6NCII8 Kana & Meiko Satomura vs Hanako Nakamori & Arisa Nakajima 11/24/2013 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=517ylNpK0P4&ab_channel=Evito-X-Puro Kana & Minoru Suzuki vs. Syuri & Yoshiaki Fujiwara 10/07/2014 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUau1M81dLA&ab_channel=【KanaChanTV】あるじの居ない部屋 Asuka vs Emma 12/16/2015 - https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x49yxfz Asuka vs Bayley 04/01/2016 - https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5vp0b2 Asuka vs Bayley 08/20/2016 - https://vk.com/video73122125_456239101 Asuka vs Ember Moon 08/19/2017 - https://vk.com/video-176123987_456239065 Asuka vs Sasha Banks 01/29/2018 - https://vk.com/video-109963232_456240428 Asuka vs Becky Lynch vs Charlotte 12/16/2018 - https://vk.com/video-176123987_456239063 Asuka vs Becky Lynch 01/27/2019 - https://vk.com/video-154481559_456241599

My God that match. Maybe the best pandemic era NJPW match (either this or Okada vs Naito 1). As for future HW stars, most of them are their excursion guys (Ren Narita, Shota Umino, Yota Tsuji, Yuya Uemura), but I'd also say that SANADA they could push at any time because the crowd love him.

That G1 field is dire. Increasing to 28 and this year being their 50th anniversary, you'd think they'd insert some real surprises, like a couple of AEW guys (Lance Archer is a nice pick though), some Stronghearts guys like T-Hawk or Irie, some Jrs like Desperado or Hiromu, and maybe even a Young Lion (Karl Friedricks on Twitter allude to some disappointment at his lack of inclusion), but no. Chase Owens and Toa Henare it is.

Tbf it's a bit hard to find someone with no WWE baggage considering they were the only major promotion in America for years. It's probably why they've chosen Page as their long-term ace, who I think they've done a great job building up.

Changed my mind, it's Io Shirai.

CyberFight festival every year has matches from NOAH, DDT, and TJPW. But yeah, this joint show will be huge for Stardom and get a hell of a lot of eyes on them. Starlight Kid, Tanahashi, and Mayu Iwatani all mentioned that they wanted mixed tags so it seems like that's what the card will be made up of.

Surely he also risks injuring himself in another way because of having to overcompensate on other muscles as well?

Not only is that one of the stupidest explanations I've heard, but the spot looked like absolute shit. You want a fire spot done right you take a page out of Kenoh's book

Ibushi came out and said it was bs so this situation is far from over

Isn't Meij credited with being the guy that kept New Japan afloat during 2020? EDIT: It was the 2-night WK that apparently helped them survive